Whetstone Synagogue

Congregation Data

Whetstone Synagogue (known as the Shul in the School)⁽ⁱⁱⁱ⁾

formerly the New Whetstone Synagogue^(iv) until 2020.^(v)

Services have been held at Alma Primary School, Friern Barnet Lane, London N20 0PL (from September 2017)^(vii)
Previously at All Saints Art Centre, 122 Oakleigh Road North, Whetstone, London N20^(viii)

October 1995^(ix)

Active. The congregation had ceased all or most of its activities by about 2005^(x) but was re-launched in 2015.

Conservative - following a traditional service, with men and women sitting separately, but side by side.^(xi)

The congregation is now independent.^(xii) It was an associate member of Masorti Judaism (known until 2012 as the Assembly of Masorti Synagogues)^(xiii) until 2020, when it disaffiliated itself from the movement.^(xiv)

https://www.whetstonesynagogue.co.uk/

None listed

National Reports & Surveys^(xvii)

1996 - 40 members (households)

2010 & 2016 - listed as having under 50 members (by household)

Annual Reports of Masorti Judaism:^(xviii)

1 January in 2007 through 2011 - 30 members^(xix)

1 January 2016 - 10 members

1 January 2017 - 30 members

The congregation, as the New Whetstone Synagogue, was a registered charity (no. 1047816), registered on 10 July 1995, but removed from registration on 9 March 2011 on grounds that it had ceased to operate. The governing document was the congregation's Constitution adopted 13 March 1995.^(xx)

The congregation, under the name New Whetstone Synagogue Ltd., was also a company limited by guarantee without share capital (company number 10457628), incorporated on 2 November 2016 but dissolved on 12 February 2019.^(xxi) 

Whetstone, a residential suburb in Northwest London, is in the London Borough of Barnet, within the administrative area of Greater London, both of which entities were established on 1 April 1965.

Bibliography -  Barnet

Barnet^(xxii) - Link to Register Office website

Notes & Sources (↵ returns to text above)

• (i) and (ii) Reserved.

• (iii) The congregation website, accessed January 2026. ↵

• (iv) This was the name under which the congregation was listed in Jewish Year Books and on the Masorti Judaism website. ↵

• (v) The change of name would have occured following the congregation disaffiliating itself from Masorti Judaism in 2020 (see below). ↵

• (vi) Reserved.

• (vii) Jewish Chronicle report entitled "Whetstone shul finds home" dated 13 September 2017 and the congregation's website accessed January 2026. ↵

• (viii) The congregation's previous website (newwhetstonesynagogue.org). ↵

• (ix) The congregation was actually listed in Jewish Year Books from 1993, but with just a contact phone number.  ↵

• (x) The last accounts filed with the Charities Commissoners (see below) was for the year 2005. However, the congregation still continued to be listed in Jewish Year Books until 2013.  ↵

• (xi) The congregation's website, accessed January 2026. ↵

• (xii) The congregation's website, accessed January 2026. ↵

• (xiii) From its first appearance in Jewish Year Books in 1994 until its last appearance in 2014 (publication of the year books ceased in 2015), the congregation was listed as affiliated to the Assembly of Masorti Synagogues / Masorti Judaism (AMS). It was defined as an associate member in AMS's annual reports from the filing of the first annual report in 2007 (which followed AMS's incorporation - it had previously been an unincorporated association) until the 2011 report and again from the filing of the 2016 report until the 2019 report. ↵

• (xiv) In Masorti Judaism's annual report for 2020, filed with the Charities Commission, it states that the New Whetstone Synagogue disaffiliated from Masorti Judaism during the year. It had ceased to be listed on the Masorti Judaism website in abbout 2020. ↵

• (xv) and (xvi) Reserved

• (xvii) Reports on synagogue membership in the United Kingdom, published by or on behalf of the Board of Deputies of British Jews (Bod) and which can be viewed on the website of the Institute of Jewish Policy Research. Click HERE for links to the various reports. The 2010 membership size was inferred from 2005 data, as it was not possible for the BoD to obtain data directly. ↵

• (xviii) Links to Masorti Judaism's annual reports reports. ↵

• (xix) As this figure remained unchanged over a five year period, it would appear that it is a nominal or estimated figure. ↵

• (viii) and (ix) Reserved

• (xx) Charities Commission website, accessed January 2026. Clicking on the charity number of this will take you to the charity's former registration on the Charities Commission website. ↵

• (xxi) Companies House website accessed January 2026. Clicking on the company number of this will take you to the former registration on the Companies House website. ↵

• (xxii) The former Registration District was Hendon, from prior to the formation of congregation until 1 April 1999. All registers would now be held by current register office.  ↵